TORONTO \u2014 Earlier this year, eight-year-old Betsy Schruder had a tough decision to make: Glinda, Benson Boone, or Zoey from \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d?<\/p>\n
Ultimately, her choice was clear: she\u2019d join the legions of kids dressing up as characters from Netflix\u2019s runaway hit this Halloween, donning black space buns, a turquoise tank top and purple pants to embody the bubbly popstar-by-day, demon slayer-by-night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like how she sometimes turns into cartoons and when she cries out popcorn,\u201d Betsy says by way of explanation.<\/p>\n
Though Betsy has seen \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d fewer times than some of her peers — a paltry twice — she knows all the songs by heart and regularly watches clips online. <\/p>\n
The film, which was written and co-directed by Toronto\u2019s Maggie Kang, follows Rumi, Zoey and Mira, a trio of young women who balance their day jobs as the K-pop group Huntr\/x with their demon-hunting alter egos.<\/p>\n
When the band members face off against demon boy band the Saja Boys, Rumi is forced to confront her true identity.<\/p>\n
Since hitting Netflix back in June, the streaming platform says it\u2019s become its most-watched film. The soundtrack has also broken into the mainstream, with the song \u201cGolden\u201d spending weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Saja Boys\u2019 \u201cYour Idol\u201d hit No. 1 on the U.S. Spotify chart, surpassing BTS as the highest-charting male K-pop act in the platform\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
The seasonal retailer Spirit Halloween last month listed \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d as the trendiest costume of the year, followed by \u201cWicked\u201d-themed looks. Meanwhile, Netflix aimed to cash in on some of the Halloween by sending the animated film to theatres for special sing-a-long showings across the U.S. and Canada between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2.<\/p>\n
Betsy\u2019s mom Katelyn Schruder says this is the first year her daughter was decisive about her costume. Typically, she wavers until the last minute.<\/p>\n
Betsy anticipates being one of several Zoeys in her class, and she expects to see some Rumis too. The question is whether they\u2019ll all be wearing the same outfit.<\/p>\n
Betsy will wear Zoey\u2019s turquoise tank top to school, and then for trick-or-treating she\u2019ll add a fuzzy yellow bucket hat and bomber jacket that Schruder customized to match the outfit Zoey wears when she first sees the Saja Boys.<\/p>\n
Schruder says she also had to get creative with the hair. The online shops were fresh out of Zoey wigs, so she purchased one for another popular character\u2019s costume: Wednesday Addams. She twisted the braids into space buns to match Zoey\u2019s signature style.<\/p>\n
Six-year-old Reese Chow, who lives north of Toronto and has seen \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d at least 10 times, also considered dressing up as Zoey.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I didn\u2019t want bangs,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
She opted for Rumi instead, and her mom Renata Leung consulted with other parents to find links to a costume she could order online — complete with purple hair extensions for the character\u2019s long braid.<\/p>\n
Then, she studied TikTok tutorials to figure out how to braid the purple strands into her daughter\u2019s black hair convincingly.<\/p>\n
In previous years, Leung says her daughter has dressed up as princesses: Rapunzel, Elsa and Cinderella.<\/p>\n
She says Rumi was a \u201crefreshing\u201d change — and an emotional one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a character that takes a lot of control,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd, for a mom, it\u2019s like a little bit of the princess era being sprinkled away. She\u2019s growing into a new childhood age that I\u2019m having a bit of a hard time grasping.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2025.<\/p>\n
Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Earlier this year, eight-year-old Betsy Schruder had a tough decision to make: Glinda, Benson Boone, or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[76,49,48,75,1554,890],"class_list":{"0":"post-245741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-film","13":"tag-lifestyle"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}